Check Out This Iberia Boeing 747 from the 1970s

Let me take a moment this fine summer Friday to tell you a quick story.

My parents are still alive and kickin' (and traveling, and retired). They take a short cruise here, a short cruise there, and occasionally a package deal to the Caribbean if they're feeling particularly ambitious. This wasn't always the way, especially when it comes to my mom.

She was an executive secretary when having that title made her the coolest lady in the office cafeteria. She sewed her own pantsuits and coordinated jewelry. AND she took killer vacations for a young, single, professional woman from the Midwest. We're talking Hawaii. Curacao. The Bahamas. Haiti. Venezuela. Germany/Austria. Then, in 1973, she flew on Iberia for a trip to Spain and Morocco, and had her first experience in a Boeing 747.

That would be a Boeing 747-100, for you #avgeeks.

I recently came across her photos from this trip, and the four images you see here are some of the very few not to feature her (or camels) in them. They're too good not to share, but the real power is in the fact that it's been nearly 40 years since my mom stood in awe of that beast and her feelings remain relevant to this day (not to mention that I now have them for the 747-800).